A few from my recent photo trip into Wyoming's Red Desert. As I don't have the latest magical technology, I had to conceptualize, compose and implement these images by myself <sigh>. It ain't easy being so blasted old-school.

The Boars Tooth

Sun Reflection Off of Wetland

Curious Pronghorn and Two-Rut Road

Circle Corral

Storm Clouds

« Last Edit: May 23, 2012, 09:24:33 PM by ckimmerle »

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"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

Chuck, your images are "da awesomeness" like we know from you.Great work.

But old school ? Man - you're shooting digital - thats not old school.Old school I'd say ist something like 4x5" sheet film.

But maybe thats just my retarded view of the things and I should call film something like "ancient" or "antique" or "prehistorical". Or its just because I'm European - we have a different timescale than people living overseas.

Very nice work, as always. Great ideas, excellent framing and composition. But for my taste, the sky in #5 looks rather over-processed. Dramatic, of course, but somehow it is just too much "in my face".

Still, that's just me. I like the more subtle approach in the first two.

John

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Hasselblad 500 C/M, SWC and CFV-39 DBand a case full of (very old) lenses and other bits

It seems that you have a fairly complete artistic vision here, so I am going to assume that everything I see is deliberate and that you're not looking for any feedback that takes the form of helping you "improve" your work. I beg your indulgence should anything I write below appear otherwise! I will endeavor to critique in the sense of analysis and understanding, not in the sense of

First of all you're doing an interesting thing with these strongly vertical, strongly centered images. The compositions are strong, but virtually every one violates some canonical "rule" or another (mostly, everything is centered! But horizons appear centered, or near the bottom of the frame, etc etc -- you're as aware as I am of these details). It completely works, I think, but it's an interesting thing to notice. I'm on the fence about whether it's a powerful unifying visual motif, or if it's visually exhausting and repetitive. With four images, I think I lean toward powerful visual motif. At, say, ten images I think it might become overwhelming and repetitive.

EDIT: The "powerful unifying visual motif" cited here is the centering of everything. Re-reading, I realize that I kind of fell of the rails in this paragraph, and then circled back to the beginning without actually saying so. Sorry about that.

Secondly, your treatment of the light is fascinating. Let me digress a moment on the subject of processing, digitally or otherwise. My personal taste is that an image is perfectly handled if the processing is invisible to the casual look, if the photograph looks superficially "real". Ansel Adams is my canonical example of a fellow who could shovel ridiculous amounts of processing into an image without quite crossing the line to "not real" looking. This is not to say that there's no place for what I consider over processed photographs, there's certainly an idea of digital art where the processing, while obvious, becomes part of the image.

What I find really interesting here is that your processing is not obvious at all, and yet the images don't look real. You're treading, to my eye, a very very narrow line that falls between "real" looking and "obviously processed" which lands these images in a sort of surrealist space. Clearly these are heavily processed (unless you're fanatically devoted to waiting for that one decisive moment when the sun breaks through enough to illuminate that one perfect spot?) but the processing does not stand out, the surrealism does.

I admit that I'm not sure I like it, but I respect the fine attention to detail that's required to hit that line.

Also, if you had more pixels, I think these would be totally way better.

Thanks, everyone. I'm actually very happy with the images I got on that trip and have finally started to understand the landscape around here. As I prefer to work close to home (where the best charity begins), that understanding is of the utmost importance.

Of course, I had a LOT of good fortune (luck!): the amazing clouds on one afternoon, finding the circle corral while desperately looking for a foreground object, and the uncharacteristically curious young pronghorn who walked into my already-composed shot and posed. We landscape photographers need the photo gawds on our side every once in a while.

You're treading, to my eye, a very very narrow line that falls between "real" looking and "obviously processed"...

That's a great way to phrase it. Unlike much of my previous work, I am finding that, at least in these images, I'm gravitating more towards emotional processing rather than striving for what is, for lack of a better term, realism. I mean, I've never considered my processing/printing style as "journalistic" or "documentary", but I am making the processing a more integral part of the overall feel of the image.

Splendid stuff, Chuck -- as usual. Are you familiar with Cole Thompson's work? These five remind me of some of his finest.

Yeah, Cole and I have emailed a few times since I moved to Wyoming, and I had lunch with him a few weeks ago. His work is truly amazing. I am sure that viewing his prints and talking with him is at least partly responsible for me allowing processing to play a larger role in the creation of the final image.

Oh hell, go for it. It IS a great camera. I'll probably get one in the future. I only poke fun as so much of the hype had elevated it to the exulted level of camera-god with the omnipotent imaging powers of (nerd alert) Star Trek's Q.

« Last Edit: May 24, 2012, 12:05:43 PM by ckimmerle »

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"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

The photojournalist in me marvels at the placement of the pronghorn so that he is entirely contained within the narrow ribbon of white that is the treadway. Any piece of him merging with the surrounding dark area would have ruined the shot. Clearly you are the Antelope Whisperer. ("A little to the left. Now turn your antlers.")

The photojournalist in me marvels at the placement of the pronghorn so that he is entirely contained within the narrow ribbon of white that is the treadway. Any piece of him merging with the surrounding dark area would have ruined the shot. Clearly you are the Antelope Whisperer.

He wasn't perfectly in the middle (no matter how much I coaxed). I had to do a fair bit of detailed dodging near his butt to separate him from the edge of the sagebrush. Still, he really WAS there.

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"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust